115-101 win over the Toronto Raptors<\/a> at TD Garden. Veteran big man Nikola Vucevic\u2019s return from a fractured ring finger gave Mazzulla a full squad to work with for the first time this season.<\/p>\nVucevic showed clear signs of rust in his first game back, finishing with four points, four rebounds, one assist, two turnovers and four fouls. Toronto outscored Boston by 14 points across his 13 minutes, a far cry from starting center Neemias Queta\u2019s plus-30 in 34 minutes. But Vucevic came away encouraged by his performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust try to find my ways and be able to be myself within what we\u2019re trying to do, within what is helping us be a good team,\u201d Vucevic said. \u201cAnd then I think, as I play more alongside these guys, I learn their tendencies, they learn mine, and I think that will just come naturally. I think today, honestly, when I was playing out there, I felt pretty good, pretty comfortable in the flow of the offense, defense, things like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t perfect \u2014 there were mistakes, things like that \u2014 but I felt pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vucevic, the Celtics\u2019 top trade-deadline acquisition, suffered his injury minutes into Jayson Tatum\u2019s season debut on March 6. He underwent surgery the following day and missed the next 14 games, continuing to meet and travel with the team while he recovered. During games, Vucevic would pick the brains of assistant coaches DJ MacLeay and Tony Dobbins about defensive coverages and matchup nuances. In practice, he\u2019d run through drills left-handed to maintain his conditioning.<\/p>\n
Now healthy, the 35-year-old will use the final week of the regular season to reacclimate to game speed, regain the chemistry he built during his 12 pre-injury appearances and develop an on-court connection with Tatum, with whom he played alongside with for the first time on Sunday. Boston has four games remaining before the playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs he continues to get some reps the next couple games, that\u2019s stuff we iron out,\u201d said Jaylen Brown, whose miscommunication with Vucevic on a pick-and-roll resulted in a third-quarter turnover. \u201cBut it\u2019s great to have him back. He looks good so far, but we\u2019ve just got to keep building toward the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Celtics went 10-4 in Vucevic\u2019s absence, getting strong frontcourt play from Queta and backup Luka Garza. Mazzulla said the big man\u2019s monthlong layoff actually helped him digest the Celtics\u2019 system, which he had been learning on the fly after his February trade from Chicago.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, getting healthy was (priority) No. 1, keeping his conditioning, No. 2,\u201d Mazzulla said. \u201cHe\u2019s been at every film session, every walkthrough, practice, shootaround that we\u2019ve had. So I think it\u2019s kind of maybe even slowed down for him. I think seeing the game live from a different perspective \u2014 he was sitting right next to D-Mac and the staff \u2014 and just kind of seeing the game from a different standpoint, hearing the communication, I think it just slowed down for him and probably gave him even a better perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n
Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic joked that he told Vucevic, a skilled shooter who\u2019s averaged more than four 3-point attempts per game in each of the last seven seasons, to try shooting left-handed to rest his newly recovered right hand. Vucevic missed both of his threes against Toronto, going 2-for-5 from the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cNikola brings a wealth of experience to this team,\u201d Rajakovic said pregame. \u201cHe\u2019s a player that can do so many things. He\u2019s great playing at the top of the key, shooting, connecting with teammates, playmaking. He can also post up when needed, especially against matchups. Good offensive rebounder. He\u2019s a complete player, and he\u2019s a great fit with this team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Queta for Most Improved?<\/p>\n
While Vucevic scuffled on Sunday, Queta delivered another standout showing, scoring 18 points on 9-of-10 shooting with seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks.<\/p>\n
After the game, Brown said the 26-year-old 7-footer \u2014 who was fourth on Boston\u2019s depth chart last season \u2014 should be a candidate for the NBA\u2019s Most Improved Player award.<\/p>\n
\u201cNeemi\u2019s been great,\u201d Brown said. \u201cHe\u2019s been just consistently getting better, protecting the rim, finishing, making those little shots, rebounding. He\u2019s been great. In my opinion, he\u2019s probably one of the most improved players this year. I don\u2019t know if he\u2019s up for the award, but he should be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Queta agrees. Though most oddsmakers view him as a long shot for that award \u2014 Atlanta\u2019s Nickeil Alexander-Walker is the current betting favorite \u2014 he believes he is deserving.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think about it all the time,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like I made a good case for it, but that\u2019s stuff that we can\u2019t control. At the end of the day, I\u2019m just helping the team win. And that\u2019s my main goal. Obviously, that\u2019s secondary, the Most Improved, but I\u2019m just glad I\u2019m helping my teammates getting to the spot we\u2019re at right now. And whether I win it or don\u2019t win it, it\u2019s not going to change my perspective and the approach I take every night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Star brewing<\/p>\n
A quartet of Boston sports stars gathered at Banners Kitchen & Tap on Saturday to promote the launch of Samuel Adams\u2019 \u201cOur City. Our Beer.\u201d variety pack.<\/p>\n
Celtics guard Derrick White, a pitchman for the Boston-based brewery since 2024, was joined by Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet, former Patriots receiver Julian Edelman and former Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara.<\/p>\n
The four addressed the fans in attendance, squared off in games of pop-a-shot, bubble hockey and ping-pong, and poured pints of their personalized beers \u2014 the (Derrick) White Ale, Crochet\u2019s Pale Ale, Julian Edel-brau Lager and Big Z Pilsner, respectively.<\/p>\n
White had crossed paths with Edelman once before, when the Patriots Hall of Famer addressed the team during a visit to the Celtics\u2019 facility. But he\u2019d never gotten to know him, Chara or Crochet until they teamed up for this collaboration.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been amazing,\u201d White told the Herald. \u201cObviously, I\u2019ve watched a lot of them for a long time, and now it\u2019s just great to get to meet them and hang out with them. When (Sam Adams) told me about this idea and everything, I was definitely all in, and it\u2019s been really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Off the rim<\/p>\n
Former Celtics big man Charles Bassey, whose second 10-day contract with the team expired on Saturday, plans to sign with the Golden State Warriors<\/a>, according to a report from HoopsHype\u2019s Michael Scotto. Boston filled Bassey\u2019s roster spot by converting Ron Harper Jr.\u2019s two-way contract to a standard deal. \u2026 NBC Sports Boston utilized an all-female broadcast team for Sunday\u2019s game. Abby Chin handled play-by-play duties alongside analysts Ashley Battle and Aneesah Morrow and reporters Kayla Burton and Noa Dalzell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"May 5, 2025. Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against New York. That was the last time,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3770],"tags":[7,75,46,66767,78,2675,6,4986,3853,78931,681,680,476,3820],"class_list":{"0":"post-700928","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-raptors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston-celtics","10":"tag-celtics","11":"tag-celtics-raptors","12":"tag-jaylen-brown","13":"tag-joe-mazzulla","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-neemias-queta","16":"tag-nikola-vucevic","17":"tag-nikola-vucevic-celtics","18":"tag-raptors","19":"tag-toronto","20":"tag-toronto-raptors","21":"tag-torontoraptors"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116356263705977960","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}